Stuck
by Ziven
Summary: What happens when Seto and Jounouchi get stuck in an elevator during a power outage? Kaiba finds another reason to care for Jounouchi more carefully... [oneshot. KaibaJounouchi]


**Stuck **

"Oh. My. God." Jounouchi was frantic.

He and Kaiba had gotten stuck…

In an elevator on the twenty-fourth floor of KaibaCorp's main office building.

"Quiet, mutt," Kaiba said. He sat, and from the suitcase tucked under his arm, pulled a laptop. He typed a bit, stopped, and paused.

"Are we gonna get out of here, Kaiba?" Jounouchi's voice was trembling.

Kaiba smiled wickedly. "Scared, mutt?"

"N-no."

Kaiba chuckled. "There's a power outrage. I just checked. We have back up generators, thought it should take a small while for my personnel to direct them to the elevators. I could try to call from my cell phone, but I doubt I have a signal here. If I do, I'll get a call—Jounouchi, calm down. It's just a power shortage, you idiot!"

Jounouchi was leaned agains a wall, his eyes closed and taking deep breaths.

"What are you, mutt? Claustophobic?" Kaiba laughed.

When nodded, Kaiba's eyes stretched as wide as dinner plates. "You're not serious?"

Jounouchi gripped a rail beside him on the wall. His fingers shook, and he gripped the rail so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Kaiba immediately closed his laptop and put it back in his briefcase, then stood. He watched Jounouchi, whose face was already covered in sweat.

"Look, Jou—"

"Just…" the blond's voice was quiet, as though he could barely speak. "Leave me…a-alone."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. He had never heard the mutt sound so pathetic. Not even when he was badly hurt.

"Jou…"

At his point, it seemed that the blond could barely even hear him. Kaiba noticed his knees were shaking, too.

Kaiba rolled his eyes, and in a swift moment, pulled Jounouchi from the railing and directed the blond towards himself. The CEO could feel Jounouchi's chest rise and fall against his own. Reaching hesitantly, Kaiba pat him comfortingly on the head.

"It's not that bad, Jounouchi. We'll be out enough…if you die on me or something, mutt, I'll bring you back and kill you again…whey the hell didn't you tell me you were claustophobic, baka?" the brunette's pat slowly turned into a soft caress. Jounouchi's breaths were still heavy, but the blond had resolved to grip Kaiba's waist. He still didn't answer, though, and that was what worried Kaiba the most.

"Se…" Jou attempted to say the CEO's name, but Kaiba stopped him.

"Shut up. Your windpipe could be closing or something. Just breathe. I'm right here. If you haven't noticed, I can't go anywhere. Wish I could…" he muttered as an afterthought.

Then, out of nowhere, the lights turned on, and there was a jerk as the elevator started again.

"See, Jounouchi?" Kaiba said soothingly. "We've got the power back online…Are you sill hanging in there?"

It was slow, but Jounouchi nodded.

Then the elevator door opened, and a swarm of people began pulling at Seto. In the newly acquired light, Kaiba noticed that Jounouchi was still pale.

"Not me, you halfwits!" he snarled. "Get him medical attention! His windpipe might be closing!" he pointed at a random woman he knew worked for him. "You do it! The rest of you, check the computers! I want to see what I'll have to reload from my laptop to the mainframe! Get to work! And see how wide spread this is! Is it just_ my_ building? Why did this happen' someone find out! And you, get a hold of Mokuba and see if he's still in school! Did their lights go out, too?"

(scene shift)

"You didn't have to go through this for me, Kaiba."

Jounouchi gestured to the hospital room, the bed he was in, the nurse outside.

"You had an abnormally fast heart rate. Of course it was necessary."

"Kaiba, I'm fine. And you know I can't pay a medical bill."

"I didn't ask you to pay it. I will; you should know that."

"…Kaiba…"

"I'm paying for it. That's final."

"You care too much."

"I care as much as I want."

Jou blinked slowly, and said quietly, "Thanks, Kaiba."

"You're welcome," the CEO said haughtily. "Are you aware of any other medical abnormalities I should know about? Are you bulimic?"

"NO! You stupid asshole!"

Kaiba snickered. Then with seriousness, he said, "They're gonna let you out soon. I'll take you home."

"Just…let us take the stairs this time."

"I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, just crazy."

"…I should have let you die in the elevator."

"You're gonna rot in hell, you rich bastard."

* * *

I liked this story, even though that's just about all that I can say...OH! I've never worked with claustophobic!Jounouchi, but I liked it, for this story...I think that giving Kaiba another reason to care is nice...

"I will return, for I am the darkness..."


End file.
